Rank Species | Subfamily Orontioideae Higher classification Lysichiton | |
Scientific name Lysichiton camtschatcensis Similar Musa basjoo, Symplocarpus foetidus, Lysichiton, Hemerocallis esculenta, Erythronium japonicum | ||
lysichiton camtschatcensis
Lysichiton camtschatcensis, common name Asian skunk-cabbage or white skunk cabbage, is a plant found in swamps and wet woods, along streams and in other wet areas of the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Kuril Islands, Sakhalin and northern Japan. The common name "skunk cabbage" is used for the genus Lysichiton, which includes L. americanus, the western skunk cabbage, noted for its unpleasant smell. The Asian skunk cabbage is more variable: plants have been reported to smell disgusting, not at all, and sweet. In Japanese it is known as mizubashō (lit. "water-banana") from a supposed similarity to the Japanese banana, a name with poetic rather than malodorous associations.
It is a robust herbaceous perennial growing to 75 cm (30 in) tall and wide, with strongly veined, glossy leaves 50–100 cm (20–39 in) long. In early spring it produces pointed white spathes up to 40 cm (16 in) long.
Like its close relative, L. americanus, it is used as a marginal aquatic plant in gardens in Great Britain and Ireland. It has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
Hybrids between L. camschatcensis and L. americanus, called Lysichiton × hortensis, are also cultivated. These have larger spathes than either of the parents.
